Reunited
by roseuhs
Summary: Draco and Hermione are reunited at a school reunion and their friendship begins to blossom...
1. one

"It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.

— Lewis B. Smedes"

Ever since she'd gotten the letter inviting her, the rest of her year and the one below her back to Hogwarts, Hermione had been waiting in total excitement. She had spent days shopping for the perfect outfit with Ginny and then spent a further two days trying to figure out which way she wanted to get to Hogwarts. Finally she had decided on the train, for old times sake and because Harry and Ginny had informed her that showing up in any other way would be unacceptable.

Platform 9 had not changed, the moment she stepped through the barrier she was surrounded by loud laughter and constant chatter, it seemed everyone else had decided on the train for old times sake too. She barely had time to take in her surroundings when her red headed best friend threw herself at Hermione.

"Hermione!" Ginny smiled and held onto the brunette "You look beautiful. I knew that dress was the right choice"

Hermione grinned at Ginny, the two girls carefully picked out the navy slip dress and the moment Hermione saw it she fell in love.

"And look at you! You're stunning" Hermione replied, releasing Ginny from their crushing hug.

Ginny's dress was a beautiful simple sundress with Lily's all over it in memory of Harry's mother. Ginny wanted to make a statement to show Harry he cared about the upcoming anniversary of their death which of course Harry appreciated.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked, joining Ginny "Hermione!" He grinned when he saw her, pulling her into a hug almost as tight as Ginny's.

"Hey Harry" Hermione smiled back at him "How have you two been?"

"He's been moody lately" Ginny said with a roll of her eyes and then kissed his cheek to show she was joking.

"I'll fill you in on everything but we have to board the train" Harry said, rushing the two girls onto the train and into the first compartment. That's the first time Hermione saw it, a flash on red hair identical to Ginny's. Her heart sunk.

After several deep breaths she joined them in the compartment with a bright smile.

"Ron, hello" she said, her voice a note too high to be normal.

"Hermione" he said with a nod

"So, how are things?" she asked, sitting next to Ginny.

"Fine, how are things with you?" He asked, a hint of curtness in his voice.

This was the first time they'd seen eachother in almost a year after their tragic breakup. It was quite a scandal, Mr Weasley the famed auror caught in bed with his secretary. And with that their 3 year relationship ended; Hermione packed up her bags, sent Ron a scathing letter about what he'd done and moved into her own apartment.

Every look she gave Ron hurt her, each look was riddled with flashbacks of that night. Ron coming over home to Hermione sat on the floor reading the freshly printed issue of The Daily Prophet with a picture of a very disheveled receptionist leaving a hotel with Ron following closely behind her. Her tear stained face, staring blankly at the pages whilst Ron spouted our excuse after excuse until finally she stood up and walked out, returning only once to deliver a letter to him.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked gently, snapping Hermione out of the toxic memories.

"Sorry what?" she asked, turning back to face the group.

"We were wondering how crookshanks is doing" Harry asked, looking nervously from Ron to Hermione who was now glaring at Ron.

"Great. I'll be right back" she said hastily and stood up, walking out of their compartment.

Hermione walked down the train to an open window and leant against it, taking in the cool air.

Moments after Hermione finally caught her breath she heard a voice come from behind her.

"Well hello there" Hermione felt an arm lean against the wall next to Hermione. She turned to look to the owner of the cool voice.

"Can I help y- Malfoy?" She took a step back as realisation set in.

"Yes do I know you?" He asked, a smirk on his face as he obliviously surveyed the beautiful woman before him.

"It's me." She rolled her eyes in annoyance "Hermione Granger"

"Granger?" He too took a step back "Merlin you've changed" he said, his tone on the verge of mockery.

Hermione nervously pulled at the hem of her dress, she was too exhausted from her previous thoughts about Ron to properly think about what Draco had said. "Thanks"

"So how come you're not with the other two of the golden trio? You three used to be inseparable" He sneered

"Go away Malfoy. People change and undoubtedly you saw the news" she was right, everyone had seen the scandal between Ron and Hermione, it was in every newspaper in the country and quite a few around the world too.

"Ah so Weasleby really messed that up" Draco nodded and then his face softened for almost a second, but not quick enough for Hermione not to notice. "Sorry about that, he's a real prat"

Hermione let out a small laugh, the first in quite a while and nodded her head "You may be a bully but at least you're honest"

As it dawned on her what she said her eyes widened "I didn't mean it like that.. it was meant to be a compliment. I'm sure you've changed since the war."

Draco shook his head and laughed a little "It's okay, I do owe you an apology though. You never did anything to me other than punch me which I probably deserved."

Hermione nodded "You did" she said before she could stop herself, not that she really wanted to.

"I'd like to say I've changed now although I can't say that's true" he said in a jokey manner but his eyes were sad as he did.

"Oh sure you have. You haven't called me a mudblood once" She have him a big smile which he tried to return but it didn't remotely meet his eyes.

"I work at the ministry and then go home to the family manor where my mother arranges my marriage. I'm as free as I was at Hogwarts"

This was the first time it dawned on her that Hogwarts may not have been the home that it was for her for everyone else.

"I read that article they did on you a while ago, the boy who had no choice was it called? I meant to owl you and say something.. I don't quite know what" she said softly, looking at the boy who was just as broken as when he was 15.

"I told them not to publish it but when does Rita Skeeter ever listen to anyone?" His smile returned as he said it although his eyes stayed just as empty as before.

"I think it was good, too many people thought you were partly to blame for the war... myself included"

Draco shrugged "I was I could have said no"

Hermione shook her head frantically "He would have just forced you to do it with one spell or another. There was no way you could have done anything. I forgot to say thank you for what you did in the Manor, we would be dead if it wasn't for you"

Hermione still had vivid nightmares about what had happened in the manor and the torture that Bellatrix inflicted on her, both physically and mentally.

Draco nodded as a way of saying no problem and then looked out of the train "Is it weird to be back?"

Hermione thought for several moments "So much has changed, for me, for you, for the wiziding world and yet this train ride, hogwarts, the view; its all the same."

Draco nodded along with her words "I wonder what would happen if we were first years now, how different things would be"

"I wonder if we'd have been friends" Hermione thought out loud

"I doubt it, you're too smart to talk to lowly people like myself" he laughed and mock curtseyed at her. Hermione let out a loud laugh at the sight in front of her and lightly slapped him.

"Stop it, you probably wouldn't have spoken to a know it all like me anyway"

Before Draco could respond Ginny came running up to them "Hermione there you are, I've been looking for you and- Malfoy?" She stopped in stunned silence.

"Oh right, hey Ginny" she smiled weakly and then turned back to Draco "Nice to see you again, Malfoy"

"You too, Granger" His expression went back to the same cold one she remembered but she didn't want to say anything in the company of Ginny so instead she smiled at him and walked away with Ginny.

"So what was that about?" Ginny asked curiously.

"We were just catching up, he's really changed since the war" she smiled at Ginny who opened the door to the compartment.

Draco had distracted her so much she'd forgotten why she was out there in the first place. Ron.

"You're back" Harry smiled, handing her a box of every flavoured beans "Want one?"

"I'm okay thank you Harry" she said in response and pressed her head against the window "I think I'll just nap"

Within moments she was asleep, it turns out being deputy head of Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures meant that she got very little sleep and so every spare moment was used for napping.

"Wake up!" Ginny said in frustration, shaking her best friend awake.

"Stop stop I'm awake" Hermione laughed and pushed Ginny off her.

"We're here" the redhead squealed as they bumbled out of the compartment together and onto the platform where many students were reuniting.

"Hermione!" Neville's voice cute through the crowd as he made his was over to join the group with Luna close at his heels.

"Hey Neville! Hello Luna" Hermione smiled, hugging them both in turn.

"I'm so glad you all came" Luna said in her usual dazed voice

"Yeah, this will be a lot of fun" Neville chimed in whilst being greeted by Ginny, Harry and Ron who was doing his best to keep away from Hermione.

"How are we getting to the castle?" Harry asked as he looked around Hogsmeade station.

"Dunno but I hope we go soon, I'm bloody starving" Ron yawned

"Ronald, it's 5pm" Ginny sighed.

"You sound like mum or.." He trailed off when he realised who he was about to compare her to. The rest of the group realised too and silence fell.

Hermione, who was now being examined by Luna, decided to break the awkwardness by going to greet Parvati.

"Parvati, hello" she smiled, quickly exiting the awkward group.

"Hermione, it's so nice to see you!" Parvati smiled and hugged Hermione, engaging her in a long winded explanation of her job as a healer.

The walls were strewn with the colours of the four houses, meticulously placed banners and confetti as far as the eye could see. Unlike the usual dim lights, each flame glowed a different bright colour and lit up the great hall beautifully.

The former Hogwarts students all walked into the great hall in total awe at the sight around them.

5 years had passed since all of them had stepped into these hallowed halls, bar the people who had returned to school to teach such as Neville who briefly returned to teach Herbology.

The students walked into the hall, looking around at the sight. The tables had vanished so that the entire hall was clear, a long table stood at the left handside of the hall and was laden with food and drinks. Smaller tables circled what seemed to be a dancing space in the middle of the hall, similar to the layout of the Yule Ball.

Professor McGonagall smiled at the awestruck students walking into the hall, had they looked younger they could have been confused for first years with their gaping mouths and inquisitive eyes.

"Welcome students!" McGonagall beamed as music started to play and everyone helped themselves to some food. A large number of people coupled up and started to dance rather poorly.

An hour in and the energy was buzzing. Draco had eaten three plates of food although Pansy had taken a lot of it.

"Draco, you want some firewhiskey?" Theodore Nott asked Draco from across the table.

"I'm good for now" Draco replied, resuming his conversation with Blaise "So, who's changed the most?" Draco asked, glancing around the hall.

Blaise thought for a moment, looking around at his fellow alumni "Granger. Or Weasley. Those two look... different"

They both know what he meant by different but neither would say it, they were Slytherins after all.

Draco nodded "I spoke to Granger on the train, Weasley messed up her bad"

Blaise sneered at Ron's name "He was always the worst of the three, even worse than Potter"

The blonde raises his eyebrows "I hate to admit anyone is worse than Potter but you're right"

"Hey Draco, do you want to dance with me?" Pansy asked, plopping herself on Draco's lap.

Draco tried to push her off and then eventually gave up "Sorry Pans, I can't I already said I'd dance with..." he looked at Blaise for help

"Granger" Blaise finished for him, a smirk on his face.

"Granger?" Pansy asked, appalled.

"Yes. Granger" Draco nodded and pushed Pansy off "Now if you'll excuse me" he stood up and headed to where Hermione was stood by herself admiring the paintings.

"Hey" he said as he approached her.

"Twice in one day, what a surprise" she said with a light laugh.

"I need you to do me a favour" He said in almost a whisper

"What is it?" she asked, suddenly cautious

"Pansy wanted to dance with me so Blaise said I agreed to dance with you.. can you just go along with it?" He asked in almost a pleading voice.

"Well well well, Mr Malfoy wants something from me." she laughed and then shrugged "As juvenile as it is I'll do it purely to spite Pansy." She shuddered at the memory of rescuing countless girls from toilets that Pansy had pushed them into.

Draco grinned at her and held out his hand which she took and was happily led onto the dance floor.

Draco rested an arm loosely around her waist and Hermione in turn rested hers around his neck. "Don't get too comfortable, Malfoy" Hermione laughed as they twirled around.

Draco cocked his head and gave her one of his trademark smirks "I was about to say the same thing, Granger"

Hermione was just about to say a witty retort when she realised someone behind Draco was watching them intently, someone with fiery red hair.

Hermione's face flushed bright red as she saw Ron glaring in her direction.

"Something got your knickers in a twist, Granger?" Draco asked, seeing Hermione's sudden change.

"R-Ron" Hermione said, her voice merely a hoarse whisper.

Draco spun them round so that he could see the man who had changed Hermione in a matter of seconds. Ron was still glaring at them except now he had his old flame Lavender sat on his lap as he spoonfed her jelly.

"Prick" Draco muttered and then noticed how upset Hermione had gotten "Come on, let's go" he whispered into her ear.

Hermione's eyes widened "Merlin, I am not going to sleep with you!"

Draco rolled his eyes and pulled her out of the hall "Get your head out of the gutter and come with me"


	2. two

"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

— Abraham Lincoln

"Draco Malfoy where are we going?" Hermione stomped her alternating foot as she said each word.

"Don't be a baby, come on this'll be fun" he winked at her and continued to drag her towards their destination.

Hermione sighed and looked at the now empty halls that would be filled with laughter from students in a number of weeks. Students who were full of excitement, looking forward to the unknown. Hermione sighed, she hadn't felt like that in a longtime.

Finally Draco dragged her to the astronomy tower.

She walked up the steps slowly behind him, bad thoughts coming back to her so much so that she was shivering.

She joined him at the top and sat next to the blonde who had sat himself on the edge of the tower without a word.

"It's crazy" Hermione said in a hushed tone, looking out at the view

"What is?" Draco replied, his eyes not leaving the mountains around them.

"We've all changed so much and if you came up here you could fool yourself into thinking we're still ditsy first years"

Draco looked over at her, he couldn't tell what she was feeling which was unusual he could usually read a girl instantly but with Hermione she was as much of a mystery as the muggle world.

"How much has really changed?"

Hermione turned to him "A lot. Blood prejudice is almost completely gone as is elf slavery. Although I'm working on a case where a wizard is going around killing free house elves" She shuddered at the thought.

"I heard about that, my boss was wanting me to work on it because I've worked on the guy before. It's an interesting case" He mused and turned to face her in turn.

"Have you got any stuff on him that I could use?" She sat up at the thought, so far the case had been full of dead ends.

"My office is full of folders on him. We could meet up and I'll walk you through them. Having someone to work on the case with might make it interesting"

Hermione nodded "That would be a big help actually thank you. What days are you free? I have a meeting on Monday so I can't do that but I'm free Tuesday or Wednesday"

"I have cake tasting on Tuesday but Wednesday I'm free" Draco spat out the words cake tasting like they were some sort of poison.

"Not interested in eating cake? Is it much too jolly for a Slytherin?" Hermione mocked.

"You know Slytherin's can have fun too and it's not the cake it's what comes after the cake which includes a puffy dress and an overpriced alter" Draco groaned at the thought "I told mother I didn't want to marry but did she listen?" He looked at her as though he expected her to answer.

"I take that as a no? What's the name of the girl you're marrying, Pansy perhaps?" She tilted her head with a mocking smile.

"Please, Pansy?" He laughed at the idea but his laugh quickly disappeared "Her name's Astoria Greengrass, she's Daphne's younger sister"

Hermione thought for a minute "Daphne was lovely, I'm sure her sister is too"

Draco shook his head "She's okay.. she isn't particularly interesting. Her favourite thing to do is try on dresses and host parties"

"That sounds like the kind of woman I pictured for you" Hermione nodded

"So, you've pictured me with women?" He smirked at her.

"Well, I did used to think who on earth would want to marry him" She returned his smirk.

"Funny, I used to think the same thing about you" He pushed her gently.

They sat up in the tower for hours until they realised they were supposed to be at the party.

"Hermione, where have you been?" Ginny asked as the two arrived back into the hall, shooting a glare at Draco "And why are you with him?"

Hermione laughed and pushed Ginny gently "Ginny, everyone is forgiving after the war okay"

Ginny sighed and forced a fake smile onto her face "Hello Malfoy how are you?"

Draco rolled his eyes, not even bothering to dredge up a smile "I'm spectacular. Later Granger" he waved to her and walked off to join his friends who were eyeing him and Hermione cautiously.

"Let's dance" Ginny grinned and pulled Hermione onto the floor where everyone was dancing to Mr Brightside.

The atmosphere was amazing, everyone was jumping and dancing and screaming. It was alive.

"Hermione! Where were you?" Harry asked inbetween jumps

"Just taking a breather" Hermione yelled back.

Ron rolled his eyes and let out a snigger which Hermione maturely chose to ignore.

The party ended at almost midnight which meant that the Hogwarts Express was not functioning, instead everyone Floo powdered to their homes.

Hermione's apartment was eerily quiet compared to the party she had been at minutes ago. She looked around the apartment and collapsed onto the sofa with a sigh. The night had been extremely exhausting, mainly because she had to deal with Ron whom she'd been doing a great job of ignoring.

She looked at the TV that they'd spent weeks arguing over.

"Why the bloody hell would we not get a TV?" Ron had yelled, outraged at Hermione not wanting to spend money on a TV.

"Because it costs a lot of money and I don't know if I'll get the grant for my elf program" She had yelled back at him in frustration.

"Who cares about the elves anyway? They'll be fine why should that stop me from enjoying the latest quidditch match after a long day at work?"

"A long day at work? Ronald, you're a Quidditch player! You work every Sunday and Monday and that's it"

"Why are you so bloody annoying, no wonder they didn't want you to work at the Ministry"

Ron had said quietly and then walked out.

Looking back on this one of many fights Hermione realised that he had probably walked out to meet some girl, not that it mattered now. Their relationship hadn't mattered then to him apparently.

She pointed her want at the TV "Incendio" She said quietly and it erupted in flames.

"Reducto" She said after she was sure the thing was destroyed and then stood up and went to bed.

Draco arrived back at his manor moments after Hermione arrived at her apartment. He tried to quietly sneak up to his room but the mission was fruitless.

"Draco!" Astoria squealed as he walked in.

"Hey Astoria" he smiled and pecked her on the cheek.

"How was the party? Did you say hi to Blaise for me?" She asked with a big smile

"Yeah he says hello" Draco said and flopped onto his sofa.

"Well I'm glad you're home and I'm going to bed" She waved to him and then disappeared into the hallway. Draco watched her go, she was truly beautiful in an obvious way. Her black hair was always perfectly styled to frame her porcelain face. She often reminded him of Snow White although her singing voice was atrocious. She was the girl every guy used to dream for; she really was beautiful. But that's all he could compliment her on. Every time he cracked a joke she'd politely smile. Every time he asked her about her interests she'd simply shrug and brush off the question, insisting that he already knew them all. All they ever spoke of was parties and Draco's work which got very boring very quickly. Not that Draco would say anything, he had agreed to marry her and he knew it would happen eventually so why not now.

Monday rolled by slowly as he spent the day dress shopping with Astoria who had a great many bridesmaids that were all too busy to help the bride.

Tuesday was just as dull, all of the wedding cakes tasted like straw. Even the apple one was ghastly.

Wednesday finally came around, a chance for him to socialise with someone who didn't own 12 different dresses that all looked identical.

Draco's office was exactly how a Malfoy office could be expected to be, his desk was sleek grey with a glass top, perfectly organised. The majority of the walls were large windows that look out onto London. The office was larger than the others in the building, as to be expected although there were very few personal touches. The office was sleek and mainly grey with touches of black and white. Draco's desk had no photos on it except one of Draco and Astoria which had an engraving on it that read I love you a lovely gift from Astoria for Draco's christmas present, it wasn't very personal but they didn't know eachother that well so he couldn't blame her.

"Granger" He nodded as Hermione walked into his office with an arm full of folders.

"Hello Malfoy. Here are all of the cases I've found so far that the guy has committed" She said as she dropped the folder onto his desk with a thud.

When Draco didn't pick up the folders, Hermione coughed loudly, causing him to drudgingly lift them up. He flicked through them slowly.

"His name is Derek Quill" Draco said, putting the folders down and looking up at the brunette.

"What?" Hermione's eyes widened "If you know this, why haven't we caught him?"

"Because he has a new identity everyday, it's impossible to catch him because we have no idea who he is now or who he plans to target next" Draco said as though it was obvious.

"Right. So how do we find him?"

"I say we talk to the families of the house elves he's killed already" Draco looked through the files

"There must be something that links them" Hermione nodded "Good idea, shall we go now?"

Draco nodded and the two headed out of Draco's luxurious office, the door swinging as they left.

"I know this must be painful, Miss Advence but I really need all the information you have on Gracie, your house elf" Hermione said kindly as she sat beside Draco with a cup of tea, facing Celia Advence.

The lady can't have been older than 30 although it was hard to tell amongst all of her messy hair and teary eyes.

Celia sniffles and then nodded "No no it's quite alright, Gracie was still very young.. for a house elf. She was barely 40 and only a couple of inches. I've known Gracie my whole life, my mother got her when she was very little... bless her, she grew up with me. She always made me my cup of tea in the morning."

Hermione smiled sympathetically "What was your mothers name?"

"Ana Décharné" Celia smiled "She was beautiful"

Hermione wrote the name down in a small notebook and nodded "Thank you very much, is there anything particularly noteworthy that you know about Gracie?"

Celia shook her head "Gracie was a kind elf and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about her"

Draco rolled his eyes and muttered something about her being melodramatic that Hermione chose not to hear.

"Thank you for your time" Hermione smiled and the two left the ladies house.

"What a waste of time" Draco said the moment they left her house.

"I have to agree with you on that" Hermione replied glumly.


End file.
